LEE RICHARDSON preserved his status as Coventry's third heat-leader as Bees completed a hat-trick of 2001 wins over King's Lynn.

The prospect of the Team GB star dropping down a peg to a second-string role beckoned when Andreas Jonsson sat at the tapes for heat 15 needing just two points to displace Richardson in the No. 3 racejacket for August.

But Jonsson, who had matched Richardson's score of paid eight from four rides, finished at the back of the field when he was caught unawares by Nicki Pedersen entering the third turn while on a paid second behind Billy Hamill.

Richardson, whose clutch gremlins at Peterborough the previous night were again an inconvenience, said: "I wasn't aware that Andreas needed two points in the last race, though I know he has been pushing me hard in recent weeks.

"I was a heat-leader all through last season and I want to stay there this year as well. Before my illness I was averaging around eight and a half points but since then I haven't been able to get back in to the groove here at Coventry.

"I don't know whether it is me, the track or my bikes. But Coventry need me to get going again and it is something I desperately want to sort out."

Jonsson had given himself the chance to overhaul Richardson by winning heat 14 in a 5-1 with Billy Janniro that clinched victory on the night over a dogged Lynn side who had reduced an eight point deficit to trail by only two with three races left.

Heat 14 has become Jonsson's speciality this season - he has now won the penultimate race at Brandon seven times in the last nine home matches - and with Janniro resisting the challenge of Tomasz Bajerski, Bees were home and dry.

The determination to put Friday's debacle at Peter-borough behind them was evident from heat one, and Bees were given a smooth surface to go about their business, courtesy of track curator Mick Coleman slaving over it for a marathon 14 hours on Thursday.

The next five races were all shared, the late-arriving Bajerski spinning off on the second turn in heat two, Niklas Klingberg getting off the deck after some first bend bunching to win three and Shaun Tacey briefly ahead of Loram in heat six.

But Bees doubled their advantage when Hamill skil-fully created the space for Paul Lee to blast to the front in heat seven.

The Bees skipper, off gate two, nullified the threat of Klingberg by trapping the Swede against the white line and Lee, who had swapped races with fellow reserve Janniro, came storming around the outside of Joachim Kugelmann to lead all the way to the flag.

A 25-17 deficit was the signal for the Knights to turn to Pedersen and Jason Crump as tactical substitutes.

The improving Pedersen came in to win heat eight, though Robson tucked in for second ahead of Bajerski as Janniro explored ever wider in an attempt to catch the Pole, but Robson's meeting ended with an engine-failure out of the start in heat 10, a race in which Kugelmann was allowed to retain third place despite his silencer clearly coming apart at the start.

With Bees still leading by six going into heat 12, Crump was introduced to front a 5-1 with Klingberg and suddenly the pressure was on.

Hamill relieved the mounting tension by winning heat 13, and Loram ensured Bees took a 4-2 advantage when he repassed Crump at the back after his attempt to challenge Pedersen had left the Aussie a gap to exploit.

That left the way for Jonsson to do the business in heat 14, though he was unable to repeat it in the final race, much to Richardson's relief.

Bees boss Colin Pratt said: "It was a good allround team performance and everyone put their two pennyworth in.

"We needed a good win after Friday night's defeat but real-istically Oxford should now win the league. It looks plain sailing for them after our defeat at Peterborough."